As we begin the season of Lent we recognize our great need for forgiveness.

When Jesus tells a story one day about two sons and their father he describes for us what our Heavenly Father feels towards us. Our performance for bad or good does not determine our place in the family, the father does. And his gracious and loving invitation is for all!

The believer in Jesus Christ is rich for his identity is not in external things but is in Christ Jesus! Ephesians 1:7 in Him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

The gospel transformed Lydia and her skill set into gifts used for expanding Christ’s kingdom from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Tears. We hide them. We avoid things and people that cause them. And in general we just wish they would be gone. When John is given a vision of the return of Jesus one of the most beautiful scenes that unfolds is that of God himself wiping every tear from the eyes of those who have been welcomed into his presence through the work of Jesus Christ. The same Jesus who unites himself to us through baptism and making us his beautiful bride. When we cry tears in this world may those tears remind us of the promises that God has made to us in our baptism and the promise that a day is coming when those tears will be no more.

As we celebrate Confirmation we recognize that the stories of our faith happen in community with one another, your story of faith matters and can have an incredible impact on another person. Sometimes we see that impact right away and sometimes the Holy Spirit works through our testimony and witness over many years. Even Saul turned Paul was impacted by a man who is only mentioned in one chapter of the Bible, but the impact of Ananias witness was world changing by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is sent, the disciples are sent, the church is sent, and the church sends! The message of Jesus and the Resurrection continues to be one that sends people out to share and to tell of the forgiveness and life that Jesus gives!

If you have the opportunity to meet someone who was dead and came back to life and the person who made that happen you would want to meet them! That's exactly what happened on Palm Sunday with Jesus and Lazarus. So many people were believing in Jesus because of Lazarus that he was deemed a threat to those who were against Jesus. Like Lazarus we continue to point people to Jesus with the stories of our lives wherever we are and wherever we go and when we share Jesus we are being used by Jesus to bring dead people back to life!

It is day 36 of the Red Letter Challenge and this week is all about Going! His Story is Our Story too!

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also said Jesus. While we may trust Jesus with our salvation we have a harder time trusting him with our wallet and stuff and if we are not careful our stuff can rob us of our faith. Instead of holding tightly to our stuff we can be people of generosity because of the overwhelming generosity of Jesus towards us that we can help but to share knowing that living generously is not about what God wants from you but for you.